Abstract
This chapter uses the theory of practice architectures to show how particular kinds of arrangements can make particular kinds of academic practices possible. It does this by exploring the authors’ experiences of being stirred in to practices of academia within a particular practice landscape as part of a research group, and the arrangements that enabled and constrained that stirring in. Employing an auto-ethnographic approach , the authors draw on their individual and collective experiences of research and collaboration with Stephen Kemmis and encounters with the theory of practice architectures. Individual narratives are analysed to identify key cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that prefigured our being stirred in, a process which has led to deep and long-lasting research collaborations and commitments that have strong and enduring local and international ties. In sharing our analysis and narratives, we provide a glimpse of how these collaborations and commitments, and the theory of practice architectures (itself a prefiguring arrangement of our practices) have influenced our research into practice in our respective fields. Our discussion offers insights not only into the kinds of practice architectures that make up a university landscape, but also how conditions of possibility can be created for academic practices that resist the de-professionalising effects of troubling university conditions .
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Notes
- 1.
The theory has also been extended through other work by Stephen Kemmis and colleagues (e.g. Kemmis & Brennan Kemmis, 2014, April; Kemmis, Edwards-Groves, Wilkinson, & Hardy, 2012; Kemmis & Heikkinen, 2012; Kemmis, Heikkinen, Aspfors, Fransson, & Edwards-Groves, 2014a; Kemmis & Mutton, 2012; Kemmis, Wilkinson, & Edwards-Groves, 2017b; Rönnerman & Kemmis, 2016; and numerous conference presentations).
- 2.
See Kemmis and Mahon (2017) for an account of the theory ’ theoretical influences.
- 3.
The PEP research group as we know it is made up of a local research group of which we three authors are, or have been, members; the PEP Australia research network involving researchers from across six Australian universities; and the PEP international network which includes researchers from seven countries. The PEP Australia and PEP international networks are made up of people who are members of the locally based groups. As mentioned, in this chapter, we focus primarily on the local PEP research group of which we were all members.
- 4.
This practice has also travelled, with Swedish PEP members now having regular PATchats with Stephen via the internet.
- 5.
The word praxis here and throughout this chapter denotes a kind of practice that is informed, morally-committed and linked to a sense that when we act, we make history (Kemmis et al., 2014b).
- 6.
- 7.
An example of this is the practice of Teacher Talk. In the interests of space, we have chosen not to discuss the practice of Teacher Talk in this chapter. However, other PEP researchers have written about Teacher Talk; for those interested in finding out more, see for example Edwards-Groves (2013) and Hardy (2010).
- 8.
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Mahon, K., Francisco, S., Lloyd, A. (2018). Practice Architectures and Being Stirred into Academic Practices of a Research Group. In: Edwards-Groves, C., Grootenboer, P., Wilkinson, J. (eds) Education in an Era of Schooling. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2053-8_12
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